Is a video of U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, saying he voted to keep the government shut down because he could never say no to Chuck Schumer, real? No, that's not true: A small disclaimer at the bottom of the video acknowledges that it was made by an artificial intelligence tool. The video, which was shared on the…
Is a video showing a U.S. Marine pushing President Donald Trump up the steps into the Marine One helicopter real? No, that's not true: A full version of the video shows the president's pants splitting, exposing a large hole in his underwear and the Marine's uniform is not authentic. It was obviously created by an artificial intelligence tool. The earliest…
Is the repeated appearance of a candidate's name on election ballots in the 2025 New York City mayoral election against the rules? No, that's not true: New York City Board of Elections staff told Lead Stories that those candidates are the nominees of two political parties. That can legally include running as the nominee of two officially recognized parties or…
Does a video posted on TikTok show Hurricane Melissa as it is making landfall in Kingston, Jamaica? No, that's not true: These clips show storms which happened around the world, some fairly recently, and some years in the past. One clip remains unidentified, of the fifteen others, none shows Hurricane Melissa. The miscaptioned video montage (archived here) was published by…
Does a viral video authentically portray the October 2025 Louvre robbery in Paris, France? No, that's not true: The clip is not authentic CCTV footage. The details of the scene in the viral video did not match the specific Louvre gallery where the theft took place. Additionally, French media reported that at least one of the robbers was wearing a…
Does a graph showing "loan locks" for non-permanent residents applying for FHA mortgages prove that immigrants overpaying for homes has inflated U.S. housing prices? No, that's not true: Non-permanent residents who applied for FHA loans were "not a major factor in the vast majority of local housing markets in the U.S.," according to a researcher with the company that produced…
Did the woman known as "Phillies Karen" file a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against Major League Baseball? No, that's not true: The page that originally posted the claim is a self described satire account. The woman who became infamous as "Phillies Karen" after she took a ball from a boy at a Philadelphia baseball game has not been publicly identified as of…
Does a viral video of a protester chanting "No queso! No cheese!" before being sprayed with orange-colored gas by law enforcement show a real-life scene? No, that's not true: A prominent watermark identified the video as having been generated by a specific AI tool. Visual artifacts indicate it was AI-generated, including faceless people in military fatigues and several examples of…
Did the public school system in Hamburg, Germany ban music lessons to avoid offending Muslims who view them to be forbidden or 'haram'? No, that's not true: The Hamburg public schools did no such thing. A German language news report has been misrepresented in social media posts. The report followed the signing of a joint statement by religious representatives and…
Did the Nobel Peace Prize Committee permanently disqualify Donald Trump from ever receiving the prize and was this news announced via a press release? No, that's not true: A fake press release using the the logo of Associated Press and mentioning a defunct website named swisstimes.org originated on the X account of a parody website. There were no media announcements…
Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
Spotted something? Let us know!.
